The topic of a rash of hate crimes against Falun Gong practitioners in Flushing was central to the discussion, held at The World Peace Federation. The meeting was attended by a broad cross section of local residents including Protestants, Hindus, Catholics, and Falun Gong practitioners.
Starting in May of this year, a well-organized group of Chinese people began attacking and assaulting Falun Gong practitioners on the streets of Flushing. The Consul General of The Chinese Consulate in New York apparently was involved in orchestrating the attacks, according to a tape released by investigators in which the Consul General admitted to have encouraged the attackers.
The attacks, initially carried out by large groups numbering in the hundreds, have continued, though on a smaller scale.
The residents of Flushing are concerned. The question on the minds of many is why is the city
not deterring the repeated hate crimes in their neighborhood.
“In every community unfortunately there are hate crimes out there against folks because of the way they look, because of their religion, because of what they practice, and it is something that I dealt with in the city,” said Council member Katz.
“I think it harms a lot of communities, it’s a really big issue,” Katz confirmed, “When I was in the assembly I was a co-sponsor of the hate crimes bill.” “The hate crimes bill is something that states that if you actually attack someone because of race, creed, color, sex, you know, biased crimes, that on sentencing it is a higher sentence.”
“So even if you’re guilty for let’s say, a felony assault, when you’re sentenced and it was a hate crime, depending on how they attacked and what the circumstances were, the punishment is much deeper,” declared Katz. “So that’s what we did on the assembly level.”
Mario Catanno, a concerned citizen at the forum shared his thoughts on the involvement of the Chinese Consulate:
“If this is something that is coming from the Mainland Chinese government, and if it’s coming through their embassy or consulate, this is more than just a hate crime or a felony,” said Catanno.
“This is a gross intervention in the internal affairs of the United States” Catanno added. “When the United States expressed sympathy for the situation in Tibet, the Chinese told us- ‘It’s our internal matter’.” “If this is a gross intervention in our internal affairs, then I think we should respond and treat it as such and put an end to it now in order to make sure this is not just the beginning of other efforts by this government or other governments to interfere”
